Patrick Wins Second Term

Gov. Deval Patrick won a second term as governor on Tuesday night. (AP)

BOSTON -- Gov. Deval Patrick won a second term Tuesday night, beating back voter frustration over the economy and a resurgent Republican party.

Patrick got 48% of the vote, compared to 41% for Charlie Baker and 8% for Tim Cahill. Green-Rainbow candidate Jill Stein captured 1% of the vote.

The Governor celebrated his win with hundreds of boisterous supporters at Boston’s Park Plaza Hotel. “Tonight the people of Massachusetts stuck with us, and we thank you, we thank you for that,” said the governor.

In his victory speech, Patrick pledged not just to be the Governor of the Democrats, but the Governor of everyone. “We work to lift every corner, every community of this commonwealth, now as always, I ask everyone in this commonwealth to turn towards each other, not on each other,” Gov. Patrick said.

Patrick admitted that his hardest work is ahead of him. “We have more people to put back to work, more students in need of better schools, more veterans to care for, more clean tech to unleash and more healthcare costs to contain," he said. "None of these things will be easy. But I’ll tell you. I’m not interested in what’s easy. I’m interested in what’s right.”

The victory was hard-fought; just months ago, Patrick was considered a sure loser by pollsters and pundits alike. For most of his governorship, Patrick's approval rating has hovered in the mid-40's, percentage-wise.

A short distance away, at the House of Blues, Republican Charlie Baker put a brave face on a disappointing loss.

“We fought the good fight folks! We did! But it’s important that all of us get behind the governor and do all we can to make sure that he succeeds in pulling our economy out of the doldrums and putting us all back on the right track,” Baker said.

And Independent Tim Cahill sought to hearten his supporters, who showed up despite his single-digit showing in the polls.

"Don’t let the numbers minimize what we accomplished – please! – because we touched a lot of people throughout Massachusetts. We touched a lot of hearts, we touched a lot of families,” Cahill said.

Patrick’s victory was part of a Democratic sweep of most major offices in the state, including all other statewide offices and all ten Congressional seats.